Auger-Aliassime bows out of Cincinnati Open in 2nd round with loss to Mannarino
There was good news and bad news for Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Cincinnati Open.
The Montreal tennis ace snapped a five-match losing skid when he battled from behind to bounce Italy’s Matteo Berrettini on Monday 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of men’s singles action at the ATP 1000 event.
But Auger-Aliassime was unable to make it two in a row when he lost Tuesday night to left-hander Adrian Mannarino of France 4-6, 4-6 in a rain-interrupted match that took one hour, 49 minutes to complete.
It appeared Auger-Aliassime had found some momentum in the second set when he broke Mannarino to tie it 4-4, but the 35-year-old Frenchman broke right back and served it out for the win.
In women’s doubles, Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and her partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand were scheduled to play American Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama of Japan in a round of 16 match in the WTA 1000 event.
Djokovic out in doubles
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic fell in his first match in the United States since 2021, losing in doubles.
Djokovic and Nikola Cacic lost 6-4, 6-2 to Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Serbian star’s return to the country after missing events because of COVID-19 vaccine restrictions.
Djokovic was playing his first competitive match since falling to top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
The winner of a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles, Djokovic is set to open singles play Wednesday night against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Alcaraz faced Australian qualifier Jordan Thompson in a late match. The defending U.S. Open champion was in position to become the first ATP player to reach 50 wins this season.
In women’s play, former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens reached the third round for the first time since 2019 with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over sixth-seeded defending tournament champion Caroline Garcia.
Stephens, who won in New York in 2017, improved to 2-8 in her last 10 matches against top-10 players. Both of the wins have been against Garcia.
Fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur, in her first match since losing the Wimbledon final, overcame a 5-1 deficit in the third set to top Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2).
